Before Urban Meyer won two national championships at the University of Florida, he was the coach at Utah and a big reason why 49ers quarterback Alex Smith was the top overall draft pick in 2005.
"He's one of the best coaches I've been around," Smith said of Meyer, now at Ohio State. "Regardless of the system, he's a guy who understands players and the team. And he gets most out of the players."
Smith threw 47 touchdowns and seven interceptions in two years as a starter at Utah.
"I developed quite a bit there," he said. "I think the biggest things I took away from [Meyer] were work ethic and preparation."
Smith, who lost his job to Colin Kaepernick in November after sustaining a concussion, is expected to be traded or released this off-season. The top candidates:
¦ Cleveland: Norv Turner is the Browns' new offensive coordinator and he served in the same role for San Francisco early in Smith's career. Owner Jimmy Haslam said this past week he anticipates a competition between somebody and Brandon Weeden.
¦ Arizona. The Cardinals were a complete mess at quarterback in 2012 and it costs general manager Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt their jobs.
¦ Philadelphia: One of the big mysteries during Super Bowl Week was what kind of offense new coach Chip Kelly will implement. That makes everybody a possibility.
¦ Jaguars. Any conversation about a quarterback with starting experience being available needs to include the Jaguars. But the price tag may not be what general manager Dave Caldwell wants to spend a chunk of salary cap on this year or in the future.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2013-02-04/story/super-bowl-notebook-which-teams-might-bid-49ers-qb-alex#ixzz2Jx53QAFN